REUTERS
Even if Russia tries to implement the project, it would be a completely different aircraft, which will not be produced under the An brand, the official said.
President of Ukrainian-based Antonov State Enterprise Oleksandr Donets says Russia will not be able to independently implement the project to build the Ukrainian-designed heavy-lift strategic transport aircraft An-124-100 Ruslan.
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"As far as I remember, [Russia's aircraft factory in] Ulyanovsk released the last An-124 in 2004. Those were the so-called backlogs left from the Soviet times. Now many companies that participated in the building of the Ruslan aircraft are shut down. In addition, the An-124 is an analog aircraft. A modern aircraft now needs digital equipment to be installed. This is another level, and almost complete redesign of the aircraft. The implementation of this program requires a lot of investment: hundreds of millions of dollars rather than millions. I don't think that now Russia is ready to implement such a project. What can the firms that left in Russia after the collapse of the USSR boast of? [PJSC] Ilyushin [Aviation Complex] is to build IL-276 soon, but this is after 20 years of production downtime. Where are the projects of Tupolev, Yakovlev? There must be traditions and the support of such traditions to create new aircraft," Donets told LIGA.net, commenting on Russia's plans to resume the serial production of the Ruslan aircraft in Ulyanovsk.
He added that even if Russia tried to implement the project, it would be a completely different aircraft, which would not be produced under the An brand.
As UNIAN reported earlier, Russia announced its plans to resume the manufacture of the Ukrainian-designed An-124 Ruslan under a new brand. Russian engineers plan to modernize the avionics, chassis design, as well as to change the engines in the aircraft.